Face to face with Dan Ayotte

Welcome to your neighborhood! Have you noticed all the interesting people? Do you ever wonder who they are, what they do, where they came from and how they live? Get to know them better, one at a time, right here in Market Place.

This week, Market Place (MP) loitered at Biggby Coffee with a cup of joe, hoping for an interesting encounter, and was not disappointed. A gentleman walked in, ordered iced tea and began chatting up the baristas (B) as they frothed milk and filled cups.

THE STATS:

Name: Dan Ayotte (DA)

Age: “Old enough to remember Truman.”

Residence: Gaylord “about half of the time”

Dan was a bit reluctant to talk to me, but relented after a bit of coaxing.

DA: I’ve been interviewed too many times. And you’ll want to take a picture, I suppose.

MP: Well, yes. The column is called “Face to Face”, after all.

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(The baristas chide and encourage from the “business side” of the counter.)

B: “Just do it Dan. You’re an interesting guy. Just talk to her. C’mon …”

DA: All right. Let’s do this thing. But do you have to take a picture?

MP: Yes. I really do. You said you’re here only six months of the year. Where is home the rest of the time? Do you go to Florida?

DA: No, no. I don’t go to Florida. I spend time in Livonia, in California. I just got back from Boston.

MP: Do you have family in those places? Kids?

DA: Daughters. Twins. And my first grandkid is in California. She’s 10 months old and I call her “The Brat Girl.”

MP: How can she be bratty at 10 months?

DA: Oh, she plays her parents like there’s no tomorrow. I just sent her an Easter card. I signed it, “Love, Grandpa. Don’t eat the stupid card.” She’s at that age, you know.

MP: What do you like to do when you’re in Gaylord?

DA: Well, I’ve fallen off the face of the earth, and I like it.

MP: Can you explain?

DA: I retired 3 years ago from Ford … the Dearborn plant, after 37 years in program design. It was very intense. Very demanding. I needed something different and when the offer came, I took it.

MP: And now?

(The baristas chime in … “He’s here! We love him, though. He keeps things interesting and makes us laugh.” It is plain that they have great affection for Dan.)

DA: In warm weather, I go to Aspen Park every morning to do the crossword puzzle. Sometimes I go out to the state park and sit in the car to do it. That reminds me, I need to get my new tag. And I need to get a county park sticker, too.

MP: Otsego County Park is nice.

DA: Yes it is. It has a very friendly feel.

B: The tables are out already at Aspen Park. I saw them.

DA: Really? That’s great! Joe (Duff) did good and got my tables out of the snow.

MP: Which do you like better? Do you have a favorite park?

DA: Ludington State Park is my favorite. You can go there in the off-season and still feel like you’re in the woods. Outside of Michigan, I like Algonquin Provincial Park, in Ontario.

MP: Where is that?

DA: Go to Toronto and turn left. It is pitch black there at night. You can sit and listen to loons calling. And on a moonlit night you can hear the wolves. All night long you can hear them. It is beautiful.

(A young woman comes into the café. It is apparent that Dan knows her.)

DA: Well? Do you have something for me, MB?

MB: No. Not today. I’m sorry.

DA: She’s taking a cooking class, and brings me the latest recipes. It kind of gives me ideas for what to make for supper.

MP: What’s your favorite food?

DA: Have you ever been up to that fish market in Indian River? I like to go there and pick up dinner and then go across the street to eat it.

MP: At Burt Lake State Park.

DA: Yes! That’s a lovely place. But sometimes I’ll get my dinner at the fish place and then stop … Do you know where that little park is just south of Wolverine?

MP: Yes, I do.

DA: I like to just sit there and watch the water go by. I was once attacked by a chicken there. I guess it thought I was infringing on its territory. I couldn’t believe that I was being attacked by a chicken! But I never saw him again, so I guess maybe the coyotes got him or something.

MP: What bugs you, Dan? Do you have a pet peeve?

DA: I am bothered by a government that thinks it knows more about what is good for me than I do, and then charges me to let them tell me. It seems like the more the government does, the less the citizens do, until people are mad when no one comes to sweep the leaves from their doorstep for them. It didn’t used to be that way. People did for themselves and the government was smaller.

MP: What do you like best about yourself?

DA: Tenacity. I have it when I need it. But the older you get, the more you learn to pick your battles. You let more things go. You get wise enough to know the difference.